Some posts recently have bemoaned the supposed lack of quality in the forum of late, and the response seems to be a *shrug* it is a public forum there is nothing we can do.
Or is there? Below I have outlined a way I believe we may kill two birds with one stone.
1) We stop the classic noob CBF looking post: “hi my name is fred and I just bought a cordia. Can you tell me which spark plugs I should put in my cordiaâ€

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'85 AB, Stroked 4G63 SOHC(8v), FMIC, BOV, TN fronts.
------Striped for parts in 2009------

the only problem i have with this is in the past when i was relatively new to the forum, even though i had searched, asked a legitmate question which after reading through a myriad of irrelvant posts had failed to find the answer to + have own a cordia for more than 5yrs before finding this forum, guess what.... Some one had the nerve to tell me to search...

Other times people have been told to search on subjects which havent been fully covered on here either, i know cause ive been curious and serched myself.

Just my opinion however, but new people to the forum aren't nessecarily new to the Cordia.

i tell you what, i think people who would consider themselves more 'established' members of the forum need to be a bit more tolerant. Sure, there are alot of new members posting obvious questions, but some members are reacting quite abusively, which is not on.

It's something that we all have to tolerate on a forum, and whilst it's important to stress the "use the search" function, going postal at them isn't going to solve anything.

It's not very encouraging for a new member to be yelled at when they post something we would consider simple. Just remember everyone was a noob one time. If you look at your own username, or some other members who have been around a while and click "find all posts" i'm sure you'll find their fair share of noob questions.

Often there is a case where a question is easily answered, requiring a simple few words, or a link to the 'mega thread', so instead of answer the question which would take about 10 seconds. People just scream "USE THE SEARCH". I mean, in the time it takes to write that, in alot of cases they could have answered the question!

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now a certified cordia owner....

how bout a better search button! go check out the search option on skylinesaustralia.com it absolutely sh*ts all over ours. Actually finds topics that are relevant, highlights key words searched that are found in the returned search and doesnt always list 50000000000000000 pages of trheads you have to sift through to find one tiny piece of information. Perhaps if our search was more like that of sas and was much much more user friendly we may start to eliminate some of the newb questions. Having been a member for long enough to be not clasified as a newb i still find this search function annoying and frustrating at times, so i can imagine how newbs must feel!

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Cordia owner again in 1 day....

The search function works brilliantly, provided a little lateral thinking and the 'search for all terms' option are used.

The only thing I think would be a useful change on our search page would be if 'search for all terms' was selected by default rather than the other one, which is what returns thousands of threads.

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[size=75]Ich will die Ruhe stören

Bones heal, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.

oh, have moved to forum feedback by the way

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[size=75]Ich will die Ruhe stören

Bones heal, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.

i think you mean a search function. Ours can be a little difficult if you wanna find something specific that isnt generic. It works if you're clever and think carefully about your key words.

that said... have seen a few reposts recently. meh. happens.

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parts needed: malpassi rising rate reg and lotsa work/time
605X405X78 intercooler
D3B4ST8 is almost done

maybe someone needs to write a good "how to use the search properly" tutorial

probably something involving the use of AND between every word.

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now a certified cordia owner....

if you need to write a faq on how to use our search buttonit then it is shite lol until it is simplified and adequate you cant use the "use the search button" slogan whenever noobs ask an already answered question. It needs to be simplified and made user friendly, you shouldnt have to sit for 24hours and have the thought processes of alnert einstein to structure your search question properly. in all honesty if we really want to put a stop to the countless number of posts from newbs asking the same old questions, do somethign about the search button. Change it, modify it, simplify it whatever. Im sure if we try soemthing it cant get any worse than things are already can it? and if the change is for the worst whats to stop it being changed back? nothing, so not a major thing to change the structure of the search button!

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Cordia owner again in 1 day....

Yes, it is a major thing. What kind of changes exactly should be implemented? Who's going to do the coding? Who's going to test it? Who's going to support the site for a week or so to ensure it doesn't cause any issues? What happens when other users think your changes are shite and want it back the way it was? It's not as simple as just 'changing the structure of the search button'.

Our search function is identical to any other phpBB engine with the exception that most boards set 'search for all terms' to default on.

Now tell me this - how the hell is skylinesaustralia.com's search function any more user friendly etc than this one? It's bloody identical! The only difference is it's missing the 'search for ... terms' option and the 'return first xxx characters of posts' - that's it. I've seen the code for both the invision power board and phpBB search engines and the layout is the only difference. The actual search engine itself is almost identical... hell, all search engines are almost identical.

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[size=75]Ich will die Ruhe stören

Bones heal, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.

funny how this just turned into a search function whinge/debate.

I'm agreeing with merlin, and myself , people just need to bloody use it, rather than searching and giving up the 1st time "waaaa... i didnt find it" look again then. If it's not there, or if it's not relevant...... start a new thread.... simple

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parts needed: malpassi rising rate reg and lotsa work/time
605X405X78 intercooler
D3B4ST8 is almost done

Yeah kinda got a bit off track huh

On the topic of the 'cant post for a week' thingy, it works two ways. We can cut down on a lot of the crap, but we may also lose a few users here and there. We could also lose a lot of posters from the for sales as well, as a fair few people sign up just to sell stuff.

We could possibly do it but not restrict posting in the for sales. *shrug*

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[size=75]Ich will die Ruhe stören

Bones heal, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.

I quite like it when a noob asks a simple question, cause there usually the only ones i can answer. Any one who owns a cordia is alright in my books, its goes against everything this forum is about when noobs gets told off.

I know this one bloke who asked a question about the insulator gearshift boots and he was blasted by some people for asking a commonly asked question. He had bought the car for his son and was just trying to be a good father. I sent him a pm about how i solved my same problem. He told me he had found a wrecker that had 20 new boots and he had bought them all so he could keep the car going for ages. He thanked me for my answer but said he would never return to the forum because he had such a bad experience.

My point is that if we hadnt yelled at him in text, 19 other cordia owners would have maybe had access to new insulator boots!

yeah, well the attidudes of some members on the forum aren't really encouraging of new members. And, this sort of behaviour can only be detremental to the forum as a whole.

people are quick to criticise other forums, but out of the forums i frequent, this would be one of the least noob friendly forums around at the moment. The fact that someone feels the need to start a thread like this suggests there is a tolerance problem. In discussions on this forum, i've only heard nissansilvia.com talked about in a bad light, but in terms of noob friendliness they are miles ahead.

There is also a double-standard that i've noticed in recent weeks. I'll draw attention to two such examples

- noob questions
I'm sure i've started a few noob threads in my time, both when i first joined the forum, and also recently. And people have been happy to help. Sign up as a new user and ask exactly the same question, and i reckon i'll get flamed.

- roger
Now, now, i'm not defending the guy, but it's gotten to a stage when regardless of how valid his advise is, he get's flamed. In alot of cases it's justified, he does talk alot of crap.

In the thread where nizzy was after a map, i advised him to be careful using a map tuned for another car. Roger basically repeated the same thing i said, and then roger get's flamed!!!! what's with that?

Roger advertises some puppies for sale in off topic.... he get's flamed. Who cares? I breed blue-tongue lizards, next year i'll see what happens when i start a thread. I guarantee i won't be greeted with the same response roger was.

Anyway, the point of this post. Is "where's the love!!???"

This is my advise to make this forum a friendly place

-read each post carefully, and if you disagree, try to take on a logical argument, don't just resort to flaming.

-If someone posts a question for which there is an obvious answer, resist the urge to make a smartass comment. If the question can be answered easily, then do so! but also mention that it is a common problem and that they should try searching next time.

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now a certified cordia owner....

^^ i agree with the roger thing. i think he has alot of valuable and usefull info on the cordia scene and about the "noob" thing i sorta like the idea of rainman with the month thing (a month might be a bit to long) i wouldnt mind waiting a few weeks to start posting if it were for the right reasons. i originally only signed up to this forum to buy parts for my cordia thats it. see in this case some people cant wait a few weks but if they are just signing up to browse the forum blah blah blah then it wouldnt hurt to wait a few weeks to start posting.

anyway my point is maybe on the registration form it could have "what is the purpose of your visit" or something like that and then with multiple answers like browsing,buying etc etc. but thats just my 2 sense

peace out.

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i live my life 10 dollars at a time and for them few k's im free

ahh the cords is nearly there, cant wait

what about a big search bar at the top of the page that opens a new window

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2003 Alfa 147

Whats the go Tim? heres a quote that you refered to me flaming roger.

I said " Also roger please dont make comments that arent entirely true, i dont have a problem with you trying to help but i would not have posted this if i wasnt sure on what i was doing.. cheers bud"

I don't know if you are taking what i said in the wrong manner, but honestly i couldnt care less about roger. I have my opinion of him but it became pretty childish several months ago when no one would shut up about him

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The only way to discover the limits of possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
VR4.Wolf 3D.VL-T fuel pump.hybrid 600x300x100.2.5" piping.TD06 167fwkw 15psi

well, it wasn't just your comment i was referring to. I was using that thread (and other people's comments in that thread toward roger) to illustrate that people are super-critical of him regardless of any of the merits of his advise!

I've found, you have to sort of translate some of roger's posts to extract any real info out of them. Often the idea he's trying to express is correct, but he doesn't seem to be able to articulate it very well.

I'm as sick of roger as everyone else here, but the way some of the other members have been acting is childish. (that comment wasn't aimed at you nizzy).

Anyway, I don't understand why he hasn't been banned again. He seems to bring out the worst in people, and he's been given plenty of chances...

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now a certified cordia owner....

OMFG ok people LISTEN UP! on 3 everyone stop obsessing about roger. He is back, he is a cordia owner in a public forum. This isnt world war f*kin 2 and we arent the dam nazi's shooting anyone who isnt blonde hair blue eys or is a jew. So lets stop this gustapo bullshit. Let the mods do the banning!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1, 2 ......3. DONE. so can this thread get back to how to make this forum more noob efficient. CHEERS!
Maybe something like other mitsu forums, you cant post a for sale thread till you have 10 posts or have been there 2 weeks or soemthing. but instead cant post till you have made 5 searches or been a member a week or 2 so you have had plenty of time to find your answers the only way possible, use of the search button as you cant post! just an idea.

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Cordia owner again in 1 day....

Sorry tim i thought you were talking about my one comment. My bad mate

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The only way to discover the limits of possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
VR4.Wolf 3D.VL-T fuel pump.hybrid 600x300x100.2.5" piping.TD06 167fwkw 15psi